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Media Advisory: Madrid, Spain

To Editors:As you cover the tragic news coming today from Madrid, Spain, regarding the explosions aboard commuter trains, Fairfield University wishes to report that all of its students studying in the international program in Spain have been accounted for and are safe. Fairfield has 14 students in Spain this semester including three living in Madrid.

Fairfield University international education director, Sue Fitzgerald, confirmed that all of the University's 14 students studying in Spain have been accounted for and are safe, including three students living in Madrid.

"We at Fairfield are so very grateful to learn that our students are safe, especially those studying in Madrid," Fitzgerald said. The three based in Madrid were away from the city, on a scheduled trip to Rome.

Upon learning of the explosions in Madrid, Fairfield staff were in contact with officials of Academic Programs International, the organization Fairfield uses for its study program in Spain, who confirmed the safety of not only Fairfield's students but the approximately 100 other students in API's programs there. Fairfield staff, in turn, e-mailed the students in Spain and phoned parents of Fairfield students to confirm their student's wellbeing.

"Based on information from API there are no plans to restrict activities of or close the study program in Spain, however, the situation will be closely monitored," Fitzgerald continued. "In the communication to our students we urged them, as always, to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security and to exercise caution as they go about their daily schedules," she said.

Fairfield University has 125 students studying abroad this semester and an additional 75 students from other colleges and universities who are enrolled in the international programs Fairfield operates in Florence, Italy, Galway, Ireland, and Brisbane, Australia.

For additional information, or to interview Sue Fitzgerald, director of international education at Fairfield, contact Martha Milcarek, University spokesperson at (203) 254-4190.